Chase left a message on my VM today to contact their Fraud department. Well, this sounded fishy, so I called the # on the back of the actual card. Lo and behold, no press 1 for this, or 2 for that, my call was routed DIRECTLY to the fraud dept! After a long series of verification questions (not the typical ones at that!)...we went over my recent charges...I told them the last time I used my card was Tues at the groc store for $51 and some odd change (I get FF miles, so use it for regular purchases)...someone charged $4,000 at a Lowes in OH yesterday!!!! (and a $2 music charge yesterday or today)

I am thrilled with the attention that Chase gave this matter.

I am not on the hook for these charges, fees, etc associated with this matter. Account closed, new card in mail, please sign a fraud statement, etc. The only minor hassle will be me calling EZPass, cell phone provider, and one other recurring (forget which one at moment) with new account information.

Anyone else with this type of scenario?

__________________

__________________Make no mistake, my friend, it takes more than money to make men rich. - A. P. Gouthey

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Yes, 10 years ago after a trip to South America. Charges from cities I had never visited showed up three months later. We believe the card had been electronically scammed at a posh hotel in Brazil. As in your case, the CC company was right on the job. It's a hassle to reorganize any regular payments, but the merchants who accepted the false card are liable.

8 years ago I deposited the proceeds from the sale of our home (about $26k) in our checking account where it was going to sit for about five business days before we closed on the purchase of our new home. BIG MISTAKE!

The following day, I was downloading recent transactions from my bank to Quicken when I noticed the last transaction was one that I did not recognize -- for a purchase from a store I never heard of in California (I'm in the Midwest) for an odd amount just under $500 apparently on my debit card. I immediately called my bank's fraud detection department and questionned what happened. They asked where I lost my card -- it was never out of my wallet except for my occasional trips to the ATM for walking-around cash. Then they asked if I had given the PIN to anyone -- nope. Sorta made me feel like I had done something wrong, even though I was completely innocent! The bank finally suggested that someone somehow had compromised my debit card that was linked to my checking account and we ended up freezing the account, ultimately getting a new account, new debit card.

Long story short: Over the next four days, online and phone purchases totalling nearly $26k -- but each individual purchase was under $500 -- were made using my card number. While I wasn't responsible for any of these charges...the paperwork was a real hassle! Had to sign an affidavit for each of something like 40 charges -- and in the meantime, all of my legitimate checks that I had just written prior to the fraud bounced. The bank actually tried to charge me for the insufficient fund checks -- at $17 each! -- so I was pretty busy cleaning up that mess. And, several months later, I found out that my credit score had been damaged by all this -- and that took nearly 18 months to get straightened out -- with little help from the bank, by the way.

Turned out it was an inside job at the bank. Someone at the bank noticed the large deposit and worked with someone else in the debit card area to do the fraud. They were ultimately caught...they had done this to dozens of accounts in a very short period of time -- made the local papers, etc.

I ended up moving all my accounts to another bank nonetheless. Lesson learned? Check your statements carefully every month! Had I not caught this when I did, we likely would not have been able to close on the new house in a timely manner!

Oh, a notice to the credit bureaus was generated by Chase also. My other accounts all still have zero balances. Whew! (first thing I checked when I got home, so it was the card number itself, not "my" identity"

After these stories, I am even more happy with Chase - these charges just occurred in the last 3 days!

__________________Make no mistake, my friend, it takes more than money to make men rich. - A. P. Gouthey

Thank you achiever Actually, due to my previous credit issues (listed in my intro post) I subscribe to a monitoring service, but yes, I will get current copies (directly) from all three in June or so...

__________________Make no mistake, my friend, it takes more than money to make men rich. - A. P. Gouthey

Not at all Khan...normally I do(well, at least 4x per week), but today was my last day in this office, so it was crazy, and I did not have that kind of time. These charges were all within the last 3 days!

__________________Make no mistake, my friend, it takes more than money to make men rich. - A. P. Gouthey

I didn't check my balances/statements etc. often before all this.. but I sure do now!

BTW, technically my fraud too was against my card number and not really an identity theft-type of thing -- but those darn credit reporting services jump on everything! For example, apparently one of the purchases that was attempted using my card was supposed to go to an address in Michigan. Months later, that address showed up on my credit report as a foreclosure! I had to provide an affidavit that I never lived there. Just a big pain in the .......

A little over a year ago, I noticed a couple of charges on my VISA statement that I knew I did not initiate. I searched the vendor on the internet and found out that they had charged several $100k worth of fraudulent fees to thousands of VISA credit card holders.

There were 2 charges, seems like they were $ 9.95 and $29.95. I called VISA about it and the rep I talked to had no idea what I was talking about! I read him the article from the internet.

Had to sign a form regarding fraud, closed the account and opened a new one. There's no telling how many people just ignored these amounts since they were so small.

I had my credit card number stolen somehow after a trip last year. Only used it in 3 places, all should have been reputable, but there must have been a bad apple in the back office somewhere. Credit card company noticed the suspicious activity before I did, and called me to let me know. They issued me a new number and cancelled all the suspicious charges.

The hassle was that this card is also used for some recurring charges (ISP, cable), so I also had to change the billing card number with those providers. I now only use a separate card for occasional purchases, one with no recurring charges on it, to better quarantine the problem if it happens again. (And of course I almost always use cash instead of a CC anyway, just because I hate the dang things.)

8 years ago I deposited the proceeds from the sale of our home (about $26k) in our checking account where it was going to sit for about five business days before we closed on the purchase of our new home. BIG MISTAKE!

The following day, I was downloading recent transactions from my bank to Quicken when I noticed the last transaction was one that I did not recognize -- for a purchase from a store I never heard of in California (I'm in the Midwest) for an odd amount just under $500 apparently on my debit card. I immediately called my bank's fraud detection department and questionned what happened. They asked where I lost my card -- it was never out of my wallet except for my occasional trips to the ATM for walking-around cash. Then they asked if I had given the PIN to anyone -- nope. Sorta made me feel like I had done something wrong, even though I was completely innocent! The bank finally suggested that someone somehow had compromised my debit card that was linked to my checking account and we ended up freezing the account, ultimately getting a new account, new debit card.

Long story short: Over the next four days, online and phone purchases totalling nearly $26k -- but each individual purchase was under $500 -- were made using my card number. While I wasn't responsible for any of these charges...the paperwork was a real hassle! Had to sign an affidavit for each of something like 40 charges -- and in the meantime, all of my legitimate checks that I had just written prior to the fraud bounced. The bank actually tried to charge me for the insufficient fund checks -- at $17 each! -- so I was pretty busy cleaning up that mess. And, several months later, I found out that my credit score had been damaged by all this -- and that took nearly 18 months to get straightened out -- with little help from the bank, by the way.

Turned out it was an inside job at the bank. Someone at the bank noticed the large deposit and worked with someone else in the debit card area to do the fraud. They were ultimately caught...they had done this to dozens of accounts in a very short period of time -- made the local papers, etc.

I ended up moving all my accounts to another bank nonetheless. Lesson learned? Check your statements carefully every month! Had I not caught this when I did, we likely would not have been able to close on the new house in a timely manner!

This is why I don't use debit cards. If someone steals my CC number (which they have), no big deal. If the CC company doesn't call me right away, I'll catch it when I review the monthly statement. The bottom line is they don't get any of my money for anything that I didn't charge. But with debit cards, the thief has direct access to my money. I can catch it later, but undoing the damage is much more difficult.

A little over a year ago, I noticed a couple of charges on my VISA statement that I knew I did not initiate. I searched the vendor on the internet and found out that they had charged several $100k worth of fraudulent fees to thousands of VISA credit card holders.

This is why I don't use debit cards. If someone steals my CC number (which they have), no big deal. If the CC company doesn't call me right away, I'll catch it when I review the monthly statement. The bottom line is they don't get any of my money for anything that I didn't charge. But with debit cards, the thief has direct access to my money. I can catch it later, but undoing the damage is much more difficult.

You're absolutely correct! I thought I was safe since I only use the debit card for withdrawals from the ATM and the occasional gas fill up....but not this time since the fox was in the hen house to begin with!

I also have to give kudos to Chase for their efforts to avoid fraud. My DH was recently in France, as it was outside our normal spending pattern they did call to check we had authorised the expenditure. I was most impressed by their efforts. Fortunatley for us, it was not fraud, just my husband spending.

__________________I be a girl, he's a boy. Think I maybe FIRED since July 08. Mid 40s, no kidlets. Actually am totally clueless as to what is going on with DH.

This was the first time I had ever seen an incorrect charge on my cc...so I just knew something had to be fishy. When I pulled them up (something to do with software), I saw their name and the word fraud. A journalist had done a story on it.

Seems as if the crooks managed to get thousands of credit card numbers.

I had my card number stolen recently from an upscale restaurant. MBNA (now BoA) shows pending charges so I caught it that night. They went clothes shopping and got some gas.

Five years ago, someone stole my number from an online vendor. They used it to look someone up on one of those identity search sites. I contacted that company and convinced them to give me the account information. I don't know if he was another victim or the actual perp but I called the guy and talked with him. I also worked with the bank and gave them what I had learned.

On the afternoon before DD's rehersal dinner her CC # was stolen. She had just put the reception on the CC (10s of thousands), then spent the morning at Nordstrom . The CC issuer contacted her because of a modest charge at Montgomery Ward. They had her spending pattern nailed!!... As I recall they asked her to stop by the bank on the way to the rehersal, they made sure she had a new card befor leaving on the honeymoon.

My family was traveling in and out of state - down to Orlando area to visit his family, catch a plane to new england to visit mine, back to Florida with a few layovers in between.

My DH used his debit card up and down the east coast during one week - all legit, but unusual behavior. In addition, some vendors did not submitte charges timely, so it looked like he had been in 2 or 3 places at the same time. First day home he went to withdraw cash before heading out on a business trip but the ATM "ate" his card. Apparently the bank had flagged his card as having suspicious activity and put a hold on it.

A bit of a mess as he was trying to get out of town, but from a computer monitoring and data mining persecptive, a reasonable action. We would rather have this than the bank not pick up on true fraud.

__________________
I would not have anyone adopt my mode of living...but I would have each one be very careful to find out and pursue his own way, and not his father's or his mother's or his neighbor's instead. Thoreau, Walden

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